REVIVAL

Revival is not an event in a sanctuary alone; revival is something we become in our living.
I preached revival services when they lasted a minimal of seven days; preaching every night of the year shy of maybe three to four weeks of traveling time getting from one place or the other; or, in a convention of sort. I preached one revival in Riverbank, California for six weeks. The most successful revival services I have preached without fail took place because the members of the church were on fire themselves (they were revival); found that if the people were revival, more souls were saved, and more spiritual encounters took place. I served as an evangelist in the Church of God of Prophecy for approximately 15 years and witnessed this fact to be true.
There is a huge difference between a crusade and a revival. When it comes to ministry, crusades are strategic campaigns structured and targeted for lost souls to be saved; administratively constructed on many levels for the desired result. Revivals are a “result” of transformation that has taken place in the life of the believer.
Therefore, revival is when something that has died in us or is dead in us comes alive. In the case of the church, it is when praying throughout the day becomes vibrant and moving; it is when we are drawn to be in the Word daily until the Word is in us daily, it is when how we live our lives is more important than how we do church; because, it is no longer about how we do church as it is “being the church.” Therefore, worship services become a manifestation of how we have lived our lives outside the sanctuary.
Ladies shaking their head till all their hair-pins are slung out is a celebration of stomping the devil all week long by showing holy kindness to everyone they encounter; they come to church with pep in their step. In other words, they do not need reviving, they are revival. Consequently, a revival service is an opportunity for them to celebrate the freedom they had gotten from worshipping God all day every day (displaying the character of Christ in smiles, hugs, kisses, and understanding).
Now, revival services become scheduled services that those who are revival can celebrate and those needing to be revived can catch the revival from those who have become revival. In this case, the revival speaker becomes one who validates their worship with God when no one has seen them displaying Christ outside the sanctuary.
When sinners see this fire in the believer it gives them a hunger to believe. Revival is not structured for us to gripe about everything that has gone wrong with the church or with the world. Revival is designed to celebrate about everything that is right about being the church. Revival is about being positive about regeneration, transformation, repentance, salvation, sanctification, and being so filled with the Spirit there is no room for anything else; ate up with the fire of God from the floor up.
Revival is not about expressing what has been it is a celebration of what is.